Delgado crawfishes on Al Qaeda statement

BATON ROUGE- Metro Councilman John Delgado apologized for comments he made connecting St. George supporters to terrorists.

"I regret that my choice of words has become an issue and distracted us from the real debate. It was not my intention to offend anyone," Delgado said.

The harsh words came Wednesday in response to Metro Councilman Ryan Heck's Facebook post thanking lawmakers, community leaders, and St. George organizers for pushing education reform in public schools.

Delgado wrote, "...thanking Norman Browning and his ilk for any changes that occur to our education system is like thanking Al Qaeda for improving our airport security measures. I don't thank people that try to destroy our community. I condemn them for the terrorists that they are."

Hours later, and after veterans demanded he retract what he said, Delgado said it was not his intention to offend, but he spoke from the heart.

Below is the full text of Delgado's statement, emailed to several media outlets:

"I regret that my choice of words has become an issue and distracted us from the real debate. It was not my intention to offend anyone. I believe that the creation of the City of St. George would be catastrophic to East Baton Rouge Parish, and I'm very passionate about preventing that from happening. I speak from the heart. I understand it may not make me the best politician, but I will always tell people how I truly feel."**********Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz